This was probably one of the most impactful sessions I've had with April in a while. She is so good at getting what she wants and one of those things is to leave the arena. Today, I decided it was time to address that behavior and help her understand that maybe that idea is not fruitful for her.
In the beginning, she rolled and stood up like she sometimes does - flying! She realized she was loose and she went running out the arena doors and over to the neighbors horses. One for April. :)
I warmed her up some more with the doors open, then decided it was time to ride and I wanted them closed for that. While saddling, she was a little extreme and I accidentally let the rope go. She went running again. I decided it was something that needed to be addressed. Bernardo closed the door to the outside, so April could leave the arena, but not the building.
She went to the stall aisle and I made it very uncomfortable for her. This would end up being my first time playing liberty with her. I unhooked her lead so we could go play this way and she could leave if she chose. When she did leave, I got big and after a couple attempts, she stopped leaving! We were able to play at liberty for a bit and her whole demeanor had changed. She's obviously been needing me to make a bigger deal out of that behavior.
I rode her in the rope halter and focused on yo-yo. I wanted her riding off my seat so I made a big deal of exaggerating my seat position to help her get the forward vs. the backwards. She was emotional about it all, but when she finally settled and was able to just get with me, we quit.
I tell ya, she was a different horse than I started with. Maybe now we can start getting some things done.
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